


An Aperture Carol

by byakurenbreak



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, More like a dream sequence death, Temporary death?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-18 16:30:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21730453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byakurenbreak/pseuds/byakurenbreak
Summary: Chell and Wheatley’s daughter is severely ill, and their only wish is to spend what could very much be her Last Christmas. However, their requests for the day off are rejected by Cave Johnson, who demands that they work the entire day.Little does Mr. Johnson know is that he’ll be getting three visitors that will teach him a lesson he’ll never forget.A Portal 2 Oneshot fic based on Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”.
Relationships: Caroline/Cave Johnson, Chell/Wheatley (Portal)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	An Aperture Carol

**Author's Note:**

> I actually started writing this a year ago. For those of you who know me, I’m more of an artist than a writer. I got a real bad case of writer’s block in the case of a certain section, and I gave up on completing this until literally 30 minutes ago as I’m writing these notes! Speaking of which, it’s nearly 1:00 am and I’m uploading this on mobile, which means if I have any proofreading and/or changes to make, it’ll have to wait until I either wake up in the morning, or stop procrastinating in general. That being said, this is based off of an AU Starry-Nightengale and I had thought up. She inspired most of the dialogue and overall story, which I wrote down, mixed things up and put the pieces together. Now, with all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this! Don’t be a Scrooge, feel free to leave a comment and a kudos!

Sophie was sick, to begin with.

As if the annual “Bring Your Daughter to Work Day” was nothing but bad luck, the day that the daughter of Chell and Stephen Wheatley would always be remembered as the scariest moment of their lives. The poor five year old was watching her mother complete a test when she suddenly had gotten splashed with Conversion Gel, covered head to toe in white goop. Mr. Johnson insisted that she would be fine after a warm bath and a good night’s rest, but ever since that day, young Sophie had been coughing non-stop.

A few months had passed, and it was the one of many good days in the year, on Christmas Eve, and everyone at Aperture Science was busy. The test subjects were testing, the scientists were experimenting, and Cave Johnson was at his desk, completing paperwork with Caroline standing by his side, looking on.

 _Knock, knock._ Cave put his pen down and placed his forehead in his palm. “Ugh, who could possibly be wanting to see me instead of doing their jobs?! Caroline, let them in.”

“Yes sir.” Caroline opened the door, and smiled warmly at the uninvited guests. “Oh, it’s the Wheatleys! Come on in, Mr. Johnson is waiting. Although your visit may be a bit brief - he’s rather preoccupied. Have a seat~”

Chell and Wheatley (while his name was really Stephen, he was used to being called by his last name - in fact, Chell considered it to be like a cutesy pet name for him) walked in with gloomy expressions. Sophie had not been doing well for the past few weeks, to the point where she couldn’t leave the house. The Wheatleys always tried very hard to stay optimistic, but with their only daughter being sick, and Aperture’s health care plan not being very helpful with paying for her treatments, they had been starting to lose hope of her being around for much longer. Wheatley looked over to Chell as if to say “You ask first, he’s not going to listen to me.” Chell took a deep breath.

“Mr. Johnson, sir? As you may already know, Christmas is tomorrow, and our countless time off requests kept being denied…”

“Well yeah, there’s science to be done, even on the holidays! You’re not the only one that’s gonna be workin’ tomorrow, y’know. Nobody’s getting any special treatment.”

Wheatley’s eyes widened in shock. “What? You mean EVERYBODY’S going to be working tomorrow? Even you?”

“Yep, so if I’M able to work, then nobody should have a goddamn reason to slack off!” Cave barked, not taking his eyes off his papers. “Christmas isn’t even that big of a deal! It is literally just a date on the calendar, like every other day of the year! Even if it WAS important or significant in any way, science still wouldn’t care! Science never stops!”

Chell’s face flushed and she rose from her seat, visibly frustrated and distraught. “And that’s another thing! What we do here… You say it’s all for the sake of science, but what bothers me is that we keep engaging in absurdly unethical business practices! Oh, and did I mention that the unsafe work conditions resulted in the life of our daughter being at stake?? The doctors told us that it would be a miracle if she survives this sickness! The least you could do is let us spend one last Christmas with our child!”

Cave snarled, pulling out a document from his file cabinet, slamming it onto the desk and pointing angrily at the fine print. “May I remind you that I, Cave Johnson, CEO of Aperture Science, have every right to veto any request for whatever reason? And if you don't like it, too bad! We're losing money faster than a turret can shoot bullets! It's a paradigm shift, and we need everyone to step up to the plate! No more excuses! You're dismissed.”

“B-but sir-” Wheatley protested.

“I SAID. DISMISSED! Caroline, escort them from my office immediately!”

Caroline sighed, uttering "Yes sir," as she led the devastated pair out of the office. "I am so sorry. Is there anything I can do? Does she need a babysitter?"

Wheatley shook his head with a melancholy smile. "Oh no, thank you for offering, but my mum was planning on visiting anyway. Sophie will love getting to spend a day with her grandma!”

“I see. Well, I’ll find a way to make it all up to you.” And with a sympathetic nod, Caroline closed the door of the office.

~~~~~~~

It was getting late and Cave was still hard at work. He was so focused on his papers that he hardly noticed Caroline getting ready to leave. As she gathered her things she timidly turned back to Cave with a sad look in her eyes.

"Mr. Johnson? About Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley... Don't you think you were a bit cruel to them? Their daughter... This could be the last Christmas of her life. Maybe--"

"Oh please, I'm sure it's hardly going to be the kid's last Christmas. Why, I'm exposed to the same stuff all the live-long day and it doesn't affect ME any, at least not yet. If I let one couple of employees slack off just because their kid has the sniffles then I'd have to do it for all of them, and then where would we be?"

“...If you say so. But the least I ask of you is to think it over." Caroline put on her coat, kissed Cave goodnight and went on her way. "Merry Christmas, Cavey..."

Merry Christmas? What is there to be merry about? It's cold, every single radio station plays the same stupid annoying songs over and over again, there's tacky decorations everywhere, the shops are either incredibly crowded or closed, and it is driving me mad! Christmas. Bah, humbug.

The moment those words ran through Cave’s mind, the whole room went dark. “Oh for God’s-- Caroline, would you be a dear and check the fuse box real quick?”

No response.

“CAROLINE?! Ugh, she’s probably already left. Fine, I’ll check it myself…”

But when he opened the door of his office, he was shocked to find that the facility had been transformed. Instead of seeing long rows of cubicles lining the room, there was a dark, seemingly endless corridor. Cave took a couple steps forward--

SLAM!

Cave whipped around. The office door had vanished, and in its place was a TV screen flashing static. “What the hell is going on…? Is this some kind of sick joke?!”

“This is no joke,” boomed a familiar voice. “This is your reality.”

The TV static faded, and Cave found himself face-to-face with his greatest adversary: Dr. Wallace Breen.

“Cave Johnson. Your selfishness is leading you down a dark path. You must change your ways or there will be consequences.”

Cave glared at the screen. “What do you think you’re doing, Breen? I don’t have any time for these games!”

“Games? No. Think of this as a lesson. Tonight you will be visited by three spirits… all of whom you may recognize as your own creations.”

“So not only have you stolen my ideas, but you’ve brainwashed them too?? You son of a--”

Breen held up his hand. “You want to be better than me, right? Well this is me showing you how. Or rather, they’re going to show you.”

With that, two little globes of light flickered on, one green and one pink. The globes resembled maintenance cores, a recent invention of Aperture Science, little round robots meant to act as little mechanics to help around the facility. As Cave was about to get a closer look at the lights, they suddenly flashed brightly before transforming into a more human-like appearance, complete with a glowing complexion of their respective colors. The green one took the shape of a man about six feet tall, clad in what looked like a cab driver’s uniform. The pink one, also male, appeared as a college student, donning a long-sleeved polo with a sweater vest and bow tie. He also wore thin, round framed glasses.

“Greetings,” the pink one began. “I am the spirit of Aperture Past. For the sake of convenience, you may address me as Craig.”

“And apparently, I’m the spirit of transportation,” The green one grumbled. “But call me Rick.”

“Rick, Dr. Breen already told you many times that your… personality doesn’t fit the role of spirits that are needed in this situation. Be grateful that you get to be a part of this adventure.”

“Adventure?? You call THIS an adventure?! Y’know what, fine, whatever. But since I’m driving, I’M picking the car!”

Craig sighed with irritation. “Fine by me. Now, as my spirit title implies, Mr. Johnson, I’m here to show you your past, and how exactly caused everything to go downhill. Rick, the car?”

Rick pulled a remote out of his pocket and clicked a button, summoning a very fancy vehicle, one that Cave had never seen before. It looked like a Ferrari, but the doors opened upwards like a Delorean. The hood was also lined with three spikes on each side. Rick smiled proudly, “Ain’t she a beaut~?”

Craig scoffed, “Yes, it’s an… interesting car, but we don’t have time for gawking! Mr. Johnson, get in. I’m taking the front seat, so don’t bother calling ‘shotgun’, or whatever the term is.” Cave muttered something inaudible under his breath (perhaps it was “Bah, humbug”) and climbed into the back. “Now, let’s start at the beginning, back when relationships were a little easier! Rick--”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, buckle up!” Rick slammed onto the gas pedal and the trio sped off into the void.

~~~~~~~

“Fact. We have arrived. You can open your eyes now.”

  
Cave groaned, rubbing his head. “What the hell kind of driving was that? Does this bozo even have a license?”

“Ha! No, but it’s not like I’m gonna get arrested. We aren’t even physically here.”

Cave opened his mouth to retort when he looked out of the car window. “Is that… The Valve Burger Joint?”

“Indeed, the very fast food restaurant that has a variety of burgers, but only in two different sizes. Small, and medium. Never got a third option,” Craig stated. “No wonder why they ran out of business.”

“Well yeah, but they closed down in the sixties…” Suddenly, a gust of wind blew the front page of a newspaper onto Cave’s feet. Picking it up, he read the date at the top… January 16th, 1940. Craig smirked and snapped his fingers. “Let’s grab a bite to eat, shall we?”

The air went from bitterly cold to pleasantly warm, complete with a savory, mouth-watering smell. As Cave was about to step up and order, Rick stopped him. “Don’t bother, no one can see or hear you. Here, why don’t you focus on that little booth in the corner?”

When Cave turned in the direction where Rick was pointing, what he saw gave him quite a shock. There, sitting in the booth was Cave - another Cave, himself 40 years younger. Sitting across from him at the table was an equally young Wallace Breen. Craig put a hand on (present) Cave’s shoulder and chuckled. “Do you remember when you and Breen were friends? You were like two peas in a pod.”

Cave turned his attention to his younger self, remembering the following conversation word for word. “That’s going to be the last time I rescue my dumb cat when he gets stuck up a tree. I tell ya, Wally, it’s like he does it on purpose. I forget to feed him ONE TIME…”

“Yeah, cats are like that… You mentioned that you couldn’t call the fire department? What, did they yell at you last time?”

“Yeah, something about rescuing felines is just a waste of their time and resources. Gee whiz, folks! If there was an easier way, I would have done it a long time ago!” Young Cave rolled his eyes as he took a bite from his burger.

Young Wallace chuckled to himself. “Yeah, wouldn’t it be convenient if there was some kind of invention where you could just… Go somewhere that’s meant to be impossible? Shoot some kind of hole in the wall to grab something out of reach…”

Craig smirked. “Sound familiar?”

“That’s how I got my idea...” (present) Cave murmured. “Granted, I didn’t come up with it myself, but I got started on the project first!”

“Meh, nobody really knows WHO was first,” Rick said with a shrug. “All we really know is that SOMEONE copied the other, one became successful while the other went bankrupt.”

Cave scowled and placed his hands on his hips. “Are you trying to imply that I copied Breen’s clearly inferior portal gun??”

“Whoa, easy there. I wasn’t implying anything. Even if you did, it’s not like you snuck into his workplace at night, wearing a ski mask, and using his copy machine to make copies of his schematics.”

Craig loudly cleared his throat to get the attention of the others. “Why don’t we go and see what else the past has in store for us? I believe this memory is one you’ve looked on fondly…”

The restaurant faded into a stuffy little office… Cave’s office. For a moment, he thought he was back where he used to be, but the walls looked recently painted, and the carpet looking nice and clean. The only part of the office that didn’t look very tidy was a stack of boxes filled with discarded shower curtains, labeled “Aperture Fixtures”. This appeared to be the time when Aperture was being changed from a shower curtain factory to a science facility. The Portal Gun was just starting to go through development, determined by the new blueprints on his desk. Cave’s train of thought was interrupted by the door opening, and two people coming inside. There was himself, taking a seat behind his desk, and a lovely young woman making herself comfortable on a chair facing him.

“I remember this,” Cave mumbled to himself. “Caroline’s job interview. She was really pretty back then…” He looked on as the interview commenced.

“So! Caroline Harvey. Why should I hire you for the secretary position?”

Young Caroline flashed her signature smile as she answered. “Well, Mr. Johnson, I always keep on task and don’t let any distractions get in the way of getting the job done. I always keep a positive mindset to help me through even the toughest days, knowing that there’s always tomorrow.”

“Haha! That’s a great way of thinking! Even if it can be a little cheesy… Somehow, you’ve answered most of my questions without even asking. Which leaves me with this one; What would you say your greatest weakness is?”

Young Caroline thought for a moment. “I’m a people pleaser. While yes, that doesn’t sound too bad at first, I tend to pay more mind to others that I tend to forget to take care of myself. It’s hard for me to say no to anything, I just… want people to like me, you know?”

Young Cave’s usually hard stare softened as he gently patted Young Caroline’s shoulder. “You won’t have to worry about trying too hard all the time to make me happy. Hell, I’ve actually felt like hiring you ever since you walked through the door. This place could use a little bit more sunshine. Just… Don’t tell anyone I said that, alright? I’ve got a reputation to hold up.”

Young Caroline grinned, saluting. “Yes sir, Mr. Johnson!”

~~~~~~~

“SPACE!”

Startled, Cave whipped around. In Craig’s place stood a boy no older than thirteen, glowing yellow all over. He wore capri shorts and a hoodie that was much too big for his small stature. “Hi! I’m the Spirit of Aperture’s Present! Do you like space? I love space!!”

Cave blinked. “Er, yes… In fact, the scientists use moon rocks in their research.” The boy’s eyes lit up, his curly hair bouncing as he jumped excitedly. “Space! Wanna go to space!!”

“That’s Kevin. He’s the next spirit you get to see tonight.” Rick chuckled, giving Kevin a small noogie. “Alright, Kev. You gotta stay focused, okay? We can talk about space later.”

“Okay. Space later. Wanna go to present. See now. Now now. Blast off!” Kevin giggled, hopping into the front seat of the car. Cave raised an eyebrow at Kevin’s odd behavior, but before he could ask whether or not the kid was insane, Rick’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “You heard the kid, get in the time traveling vehicle!”

~~~~~~~

Cave moaned, clutching his stomach as he stumbled out of the car. “Bluh… I think I’m going to vomit…”

Rick rolled his eyes. “Aw, don’t be such a wimp. It’s just motion sickness. It’s not like you’re DYING or anything… Speaking of which, y’know whose house this is?”

Kevin bounced on his toes, grinning from ear to ear. “Do ya? Do ya? Where are we? Guess! Are we in space?”

They had driven to a small house with a single row of Christmas lights on the roof. There were also lights on inside, indicating that whoever lived there was home. A small mailbox stood next to the front of the driveway with the word “Wheatley” in blue hand painted letters.

“Didja figure it out? I did!” Kevin beamed proudly. “It’s the Wheatley’s! Chell, Stephen and Sophie, a sweet little family of three! I wonder what they’re up to on Christmas Eve. Let’s find out!” Kevin clapped his hands, and again, the air changed from cold to warm as they found themselves inside the small house, inside an even smaller room that looked like it belonged to a little girl.

Sure enough, young Sophie was sitting up in bed, with both parents at her side as they read her a bedtime story. She clutched a small teddy bear in her arms, listening attentively to their magical tale of princesses and fairies. “And they all lived happily ever after,” Wheatley concluded. “The end~”

“Daddy, can’t you and mummy stay home tomorrow…?”

Chell sighed, giving Sophie a hug. “We told you, sweetie… Mr. Johnson wouldn’t let us. We did everything we could, but he really needs us at work.”

“Don’t worry, little-luv, we won’t be gone all day,” assured Wheatley, also joining in on the hug. “We’ll get to watch you open your presents from Santa, and then we’ll be back by supper. Until then, you’ll get to spend all day with your grandma! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Sophie nodded, still looking a little sad. “It will, but I’ll miss you…”

Wheatley smiled in a melancholy fashion, smoothing down Sophie’s hair. “We’ll miss you too. Like mummy said, we won’t be gone for too long--” But before he could continue, the doorbell rang. “Hold that thought, I’ll be right back.”

He left the room, but came back a few moments later, he came back with a huge grin on his face. “Someone’s here to see you, Soph! Pretty late in the evening, but always welcome. Come on in~”

Suddenly, someone poked their head around the door frame. It was Caroline, and she was holding a small box neatly gift wrapped! “Ho, ho, ho! Special delivery for a very special little girl~”

Sophie squealed excitedly, clapping her tiny hands. “Miss Carrie!!” Caroline laughed, setting the gift in Sophie’s lap. “Come on, open it~”

Inside there were some pretty hair ribbons, a coloring book and a small box of crayons. “It’s not much, but I figured these would be a good thing for her to preoccupy herself with if she has to be in bed all day.”

“Thank you, Miss Carrie—“ The poor girl instantaneously began to have a massive coughing fit, so loud and awful sounding that Cave couldn’t help but flinch. “O-oh, deep breaths, luv, deep breaths…”

Cave’s heart sunk at the pitiful sight of Sophie struggling to breathe. He turned to Kevin and Rick, both of whom were staring intensely back at him. Kevin looked more solemn while Rick looked angry.

“You said something to Caroline about why you wouldn’t let them stay home… What was it again? Oh, I know. I know, you said something about not letting one couple of employees slack off… Because of their kid having the… Sniffles, you said?” Kevin asked, his tone of voice more glum than usual. “Oh yes, what a bad, bad cold…”

“That is NOT a cold!” Cave protested. “This is serious! There has to be something we can do…” But as Cave took a step forward, his foot plunged through the floor like it had become thick mud. Panicked, he tried to wiggle his way out, only to find that he was sinking deeper and deeper into the carpet. Looking around, he noticed the walls of Sophie’s bedroom melting like candle wax. Rick crossed his arms and smirked. “Oh? Did you forget I wasn’t the Third Spirit? Guess again, baby killer.”

  
~~~~~~

  
The world was dark, cold and dense… Cave felt like he was sinking to the bottom of the ocean, but other than that he wasn’t quite sure what to think. Breen said “Three Spirits”, and Rick had just said that he was not one of them. If that was the case, then… Who was?

“There you are…” A little white light in the shape of a turret floated towards him, shining brightly before reconstructing itself to the form of a female child, much younger than Kevin had been, but a tad older than Sophie. The Spirit had long flowing hair, and wore a nightgown that went down to her feet. Her entire being radiated pure white, except for her eyes, red as blood. “I am The Spirit of Aperture’s Future… Your future…” The spirit raised her hand, pointing her finger at the horizon.

Cave turned around and saw something that looked like Caroline, but there was something about her that seemed off… Her skin was pale, normally brown eyes had a yellow highlight, and she spoke in a cold, borderline robotic voice. “I can’t do this anymore, Mr. Johnson. You’re no longer the man I fell in love with. I was a fool to believe that we were going to have a happy ending!”

Cave involuntarily found himself on his knees, hearing his own voice without talking at all. It was as if his future self was possessing his current body. “No, wait! Caroline, don’t go! I can still fix this! We can do this together!”

Caroline shook her head, beginning to walk away. “Every time you say that, all you do is break that promise. It’s too late, Sir. Goodbye…” With every step she took, the sound of her high heels hauntingly echoed on the floor. Even though she seemed to be farther away, Cave still heard her walking as if she was still close by… He turned back to face the spirit, who was staring blankly.

“Heaven gains another angel.”

Before Cave could react, he heard Sophie coughing again, more sickly and awful sounding than before. A heart monitor began to beep, along with the voices of Chell, Wheatley, and at least three others that Cave couldn’t place.

“C-c’mon, luv! Take deep breaths, please!”  
“Sophie, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay!”  
“No, this… This can’t be happening!”  
“We’re losing her, doctor!”  
“Time of death: 1:36 am…”

*Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…*

Cave couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. Sophie was SUPPOSED to be fine!! Why?? Why did she have to die from this? Various images clouded his field of vision; Sophie’s lifeless body being rolled into the morgue, Chell and Wheatley holding each other and crying, a tombstone decorated with flowers… It was nearly too much for him to take, but it wasn’t over yet.

“The mighty pharaoh was tormented with plagues… Unlike hers, your heart is intact. Unlike hers, your kidneys are not.”

Cave began to cough. First it was soft, but they slowly escalated into full on hacking to the point where he began to cough up blood. He felt dizzy, nauseous, itchy, HOT… Moving even an inch would cause devastating pain to course through his body. He lay on the ground in agony, begging for everything to stop. Caroline’s walking, the heart monitor flatlining, Chell and Wheatley sobbing, the alarm clock ringing… Alarm clock??

~~~~~~~

Cave’s eyes snapped open, shooting up from his chair. He looked around… He was still in his office! He opened the window, letting the sunlight fill the room. It was a good thing Caroline had gotten him that alarm clock last… Wait, what day was it?

Cave swung the office doors open, spotting an employee walk into the building. “Hey, you! Yeah, what’s-your-face, uh… Virgil!! Right, Virgil! What day is it today?”

Virgil blinked, tilting his head. “Uh… December 25th, sir. Christmas Day.”

“Well then get outta here! What’re you doing, working TODAY of all days??” Cave pushed the confused worker out of the building and locked the door. “I do have one job for you though - Here, twenty bucks. Go buy the softest, most comfortable blanket you can find and meet me at the Wheatley place. After that you get the day off, just like everybody else! Go, go, go!!!”

“Yessir!!” Virgil sped off, leaving Cave to jump into his car and let every single employee in town know about his last minute decision.

As expected, Virgil was waiting at the small house, holding a lovely red blanket, fuzzy and warm. Cave grinned, thanked Virgil and let him go on his way. He turned to knock on the door, hoping that they hadn’t already left.

To his delight, they haven’t! Chell and Wheatley answered, their eyes having a panicked expression. “Oh, Mr. Johnson! Are we late? Please, just give us a few more minutes, Sophie—“

“I wanted to make sure one thing was crystal clear. Don’t either one of you DARE come into work today, you hear me?! If you set ONE FOOT in the facility before 9 AM on the 26th, you forfeit the 15% raise I’m planning on giving both of you!” Cave barked. “Stay right here and take good care of your goddamn sick child for Christ’s sake! Speakin’ of which, where is she? I’ve got something for her…”

Little Sophie peeked out from behind her mother’s leg, sucking her thumb. “Ah, there’s the lady of the hour! Here ya go~” Cave draped the warm fuzzy blanket around Sophie’s shoulders, patting the top of her head. “Merry Christmas, kiddo. Alright, you two! 26th! 9:30 at the latest! See you then!”

Chell and Wheatley stood there with their jaws dropped. “Am… I still half asleep or did you see all of that too, luv?”

Sophie clapped her hands happily, snuggling her new blanket. “Blankie~!”

Chell smiled, scooping up her happy daughter. “Yes, that’s right! Our boss got it just for you! For… some reason.”

“God bless us, everyone!”

~~~~~~~

Cave drove back to the facility with a tingly feeling in his chest. He couldn’t get a hold of Caroline, so he figured that she was already at Aperture. Sure enough, she was there, waiting in front of the locked door. He drove up to her, rolling down the window. “Hey, there you are!”

“Mr. Johnson, where is everybody? Why is the door locked? Is everything alright?”

“Oh, I’ve never been better, Caroline! In fact, I gave everyone the day off so we could get a head start on working to make a few changes around here, starting with finding out a way to neutralize the toxicity of the gels… Although, if we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves, we could start on that tomorrow, since… I’m not doing anything for Christmas.” Cave winked, opening the car door to give Caroline a big hug. “The choice is yours, dear~”

Caroline smiled as she hugged him back. “I’d love to spend the holiday with you~”

There was still lots of science to do, but just for today… For this one special day, science could wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, yeah, I may have gotten a few things wrong. I’m not good with lore. Maybe Gel doesn’t actually make you sick, maybe it does, who knows, who cares.


End file.
